CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds remained undefeated and now advance to the gold medal match after a 1-0 win over the Trinity Western Spartans in the Canada West semifinals Friday afternoon from McMahon Stadium. With the win the T-Birds overall record on the campaign stayed perfect, the first women's soccer team to do so through the Canada West regular season where they compiled a 14-0 record and now with a second playoff victory they improve to 16-0 thus far.
In a rematch of both last year's CW Final and the U SPORTS Championship Final, UBC's
Jayda Thompson found the back of the net in the 18
th minute in what proved to be the difference as the Thunderbirds will now advance to Saturday's gold medal game against Victoria.
"I could have never believed that this would be possible with how tough our division is," UBC head coach
Jesse Symons said. "We've taken it game by game and today was a true testament to how we've been playing all year. It was a true semifinal between two good programs. It was similar to the first game today with the Dinos and Vikes. They're all tight games and I feel that we had some opportunities to finish it off earlier in the game, but our backend has done their job all season and continues too."
In the 18
th minute, Thompson created something out of nothing. The third-year forward carried the ball into the corner, where he defender stumbled and fell for a brief moment. Thompson seized the opportunity, weaving into the box and blasting her shot far post to give the No. 1 team in the nation the early lead.
"
Jayda Thompson is a special player, and she's progressed dramatically within our program," Symons said. "She's been able to score big goals in big games and if she continues, I think she'll push us along well in the next week or so."
This defensive matchup saw limited shots overall, as UBC finished with a 9-7 edge while Netminders
Dakota Beckett of the Thunderbirds made two saves and TWU's Yasmine Pahal stopped six.
"It was a contested battle between two teams, and they had a fantastic finish," Trinity Western head coach Graham Roxburgh said. "I don't feel that we did enough to generate a way to score and the majority of the game was in the midfield. Calgary's at home and we're going to need to be sharper in possession and create better chances if we want to make it to nationals."
Trinity Western will now battle for Calgary in the CW bronze medal game Saturday at noon PT. again from McMahon Stadium with a berth to nationals on the line.
Immediately following, UBC will go up against division rival Victoria in the gold medal match. This marks the fifth consecutive CW Final appearance for the T-Birds. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. PT.
